Common Redpoll

Common Redpoll. New bird #150!

Evening Grosbeaks

Hardy little birds, and bold enough to chase Blue Jays.

Bohemian Waxwing

Saw an entire flock of these guys with Becky. Larger relative of Cedar Waxwings.

A few pictures

 Snow Buntings

 Evening Grosbeaks

 Common Merganser

Porcupine

Couple of days, couple of birds.

 Finished my work and opted to pop outside for the first time in months. Saw a Northern Mockingbird and a winter bird, a Townsend's Warbler.

Couple more days! Gonna hug the shit out of my mom at the airport. Someone make sure she isn't full of Vito's when she gets there.

Guess what I'm getting...

2 week old corgi!

So the breeder I've been in contact with sent me an email recently, and inside was pictures of the litter! I am definitely getting a Pembroke Welsh Corgi!  I specifically looked for a breeder with tricolors because I figure it's time to switch it up.  I'm not sure which puppy is for me yet, as she picks the puppy based on your personality and theirs, as well as activity level.  Both the females of the litter are show prospects, so probably another boy. Which kind of ends up being a blessing because trying to name a female dog is harder than trying to bite through a Werther's Original.

Either way I am thrilled! I've faced a lot of challenges personally this year and this is something I want and am ready for!  We're also going to go to puppy classes. How cute is that??

TWO WEEKS TIL CHRISTMAS!

Under ten weeks!

Black Phoebe

I'll be home for Christmas in just under ten weeks! Been good on our end, waiting to hear back from a lady, but poteeentially some good news coming. Stay tuned for that one.

We're actually managing to keep the apartment cleaner.  Haven't seen a new bird in awhile but mostly been too busy dealing with art etc. I need to learn to work faster. Oof.

I did manage to see this flycatcher, so here it is.

Cat scan.

'Beep'

So today we took Meep to the vet to have her shots and to be wormed.  I always figured her for a bit of a pushover, but within five minutes it was taking the vet and her assistant a good deal of strength to manage her.

She was whipping her head about and hissing like a rattlesnake. Of course I tried really hard not to laugh. I did apologize a few dozen times. The entire time, however, I was just waiting for the 'Could you help?' I woulda had her under control. The trick is being aware of the emergency butt-scruff.

In all seriousness, though, the ladies did a great job. She paused at one point to inform me that there were two kinds of worming medicine; oral and injection. She didn't even bother to tell me which she'd chosen. She was already prepping the needle as she explained it.  Oh Meep, our little pit viper.

We also got a microchip placed in her. This is just as that final precaution if she should run out the door and get lost. If she ends up at a shelter, odds are they will give her a scan over.  There's something really humorous about the vet holding your cat and scanning her like a piece of fruit.

Merger.

The Bird and Family blogs have been merged. All the old posts from my birdwatching blog can now be found here on the dates they were originally posted. It's just easier this way.

Bodega Bay!

 

The cave to the other side.

 Went out to Bodega Bay with Eli and Helga today. We saw the usual assortment, including Gulls, Brown Pelicans, Great Egrets, and Savannah Sparrows.

Brown Pelicans

Savannah Sparrow

We also saw a couple lesser-seen players, like this Pacific Harbor Seal.

Adorable...

Or not...

We also saw this deer.

Delicious

But that's not why we were here. Oh no. THIS is why we came. Whales!

Whales are surprisingly hard to get pictures of! Anyway, I had a great day!
They always say to end on a strong note, so here's the underbelly of a vulture.

Here's a picture I did recently. It's on my site as well, but I'm updating for the sake of updating. Alive and well, little homesick, and every time I see Christmas decorations on some old person's house I get excited for my trip home!

The house is really quiet without doggy nails clicking the floor. We've decided we need another dog and will be getting a rescue puppy in early 2011.

Also had a few inquiries about the camp ground I'm going to next month. Here's a link. I think I need to buy a sun hat.

Joshua Tree National Park

A good dog.

The only eulogy needed by any dog. He was a good dog.

I'm meeeelting.

So the other day it was over 100 degrees out here. Today it's 'only' 96. Heat advisories in effect all over. I'm gonna sit on my air conditioner. Quick updates for me? Been working on animations and paintings for a month and a half solid now with no rest period.

16 more weeks or so to Christmas!

And about 2 months to another trip I'm taking with some friends. A much smaller trip down to Orange County. Then we'll drive off into the desert camp ground. Guaranteed there's gonna be some sweet new birds. On my 'wanted' list? Golden Eagle, Roadrunner, and Prairie Falcon. There's going to be a lot of potential birds, especially so close to Mexico. Let's hope!

For now, though, back to work I go.

Updated website.

Moved and updated my art website. It can be found by the link on this page or by going to cindymccluskey.com

Let me know if it works right in your browser. I tried hard to make it work the same, but we shall see :)

New places.

As some of you know, I often have grievances with the bladder of my dog, Cody. He's a very cute dog, but my issue has always been that I never bonded to him. It is hard to bond to an senior dog. The SPCA is gonna kill me for this, but I would not recommend it to everyone. It takes a special kind of person to adopt a senior dog. I'm special, but maybe more in a 'draw things you don't show your mom' way.

That said, as old man Cody reaches the end of his life I realize the dog he must have been in his prime, and it's a mystery I use for periodic entertainment, like a corgi 'littlest hobo'. I wonder about how he is terrified of loud sounds, and that rib that never healed properly you can see when he's rolled over. I wonder lots of things, but recently I no longer doubt it's time. Cody has been suffering with a gradual onset of degenerative myelopathy. In short, over time the brain just sort of loses track of the back legs. This is a mildly sad video of what this disease looks like at the paralytic stages in another dog...

German Shepherd with degenerative myelopathy

We were in the process of moving downstairs to a new apartment in the complex when he hit this stage. It's great for him with nice 'forgetful bladder' click floors and being on the ground level, but now he has to be carried outside anyway. You have to carry him, because if you let him do it his way he looks like he just got hit by a car and is dragging himself to me to die. People will also pull their car up, roll down the window, and make sure he's okay.

The reason I know he's a good dog is when I leave him to sit while I run the bag to the trash, he tries to follow me and looks like one of those old jumping frog toys. I tried running once to beat him at his own stubborn game and you know what he did?

Frog toy nitro.

New bird # 148. Caspian Tern. Dives for fish. Pretty neat sea bird.

Hooded Oriole male and female. Lifelist # 147!

I went to the zoo!

We went to the San Francisco zoo!



















Annnnd also! A wild bird showed up with his mate and gave me a lifelist showing. Say hello to the Hooded Oriole, male and female.